


Take me to the stars

by S_Horne



Series: Stony September AUs [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Doctor Tony Stark, Doctor/Patient, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-14 01:16:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16029995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/S_Horne/pseuds/S_Horne
Summary: When Steve finds himself in hospital and missing the stars he loves so much, the only thing he has to smile about is seeing his favourite Doctor.Too bad Tony has morals.





	Take me to the stars

**Author's Note:**

> 18\. Doctor/patient

There was something about the stars that Steve had always loved. When he was a kid his Mom would bundle him up as soon as it got dark and take him out to stare up at them. She would point out pictures they made and tell him stories about how they got there. When she died, it became his way of coping and when he couldn’t face the thought of going to the cemetery, he would go and talk to the stars.

And as much as Steve loved the stars, he hated hospitals even more. As a child, he had spent a lot of time in plain white rooms with tubes stuck in him and beeping machines, keeping him awake and he had hated every minute of it. When he had gone off to college, he had focused his efforts on bulking up and becoming healthy, hoping to never be stuck in a hospital again. It had worked, for the most part, and he hadn’t had an overnight stay in a hospital for years.

“Good morning, Mr. Rogers.”

Unit now.

And this time it wasn’t even his fault. There had been a drunk driver and, well... Although Steve had had a near miss, he was unfortunately stuck in hospital for the foreseeable future.

“And how is my favourite patient this morning?”

But there was also that. The plus side to being stuck in a hospital.

Dr. Tony Stark; whom no one would ever have suspected of being a doctor until he was seen in the hospital where he _thrived_. Steve had certainly not guessed his profession when they’d met, but he was eternally grateful for it. And at Tony’s happy tone, Steve couldn’t help but smile as he pushed himself up in his bed.

“Battered, bruised and bored,” he replied dryly, though he laughed when Tony nodded sagely.

“A complaint I hear most days. I can help with the bruises, but not much else I’m afraid.”

Steve’s smile grew. “I appreciate it nonetheless.”

In a cruel twist of irony, Steve had been set up on a blind date the week before his accident. It had gone far better than Steve could have ever imagined and he’d ended the night with the guy’s phone number in his cell and his lips tingling from their passionate kiss. Imagine his surprise when he’d woken up in hospital to see his date staring down at him from over a clipboard, a crisp white coat replacing the laidback shirt and jeans that Steve had last seen him in.

It had been two weeks of soft conversations and Tony stopping by on his way home to say goodnight, or dropping in to share his lunch-hour with Steve, stealing his jello to Steve’s loud but joking protests. With Tony’s soothing bedside manner, his way of knowing when to joke and when to be serious, and his unwavering sense of calm, Steve was only falling harder.

Damn Tony for having morals and cutting off their relationship before it really began, refusing to date a patient.

“Everything okay though?” Tony asked and Steve softened at the sheer concern in Tony’s tone. “Besides the bruising, I mean. The room comfortable enough?”

“I miss the stars,” Steve confessed with a sigh. “This room is better than some I’ve had, definitely, but… I just miss the stars.”

Tony was silent and Steve let his eyes drift up to the ceiling. “Every night I would look up and stare at them, go for a walk in the dark just to enjoy them for that little bit longer. I keep thinking I can go home and do that again, but then they push my date further and further back and my chance to see those stars shrinks and shrinks.”

“I’m sorry, Steve. We don’t have any rooms with windows free on this floor, otherwise you know I’d–”

“No, no,” Steve cut in hastily and waved his hand. “I’m sorry. God, just listen to me. I’m so lucky I’m even here right now and I know I have it better than so many others. Ignore me. I’m grateful for everything, honestly.”

Tony didn’t look convinced, but he nodded. “Well, I’ll see you at lunch? I think it’s green jello today.”

Steve laughed when the tension broke at Tony’s wink. “My favourite kind. Not that I’ll actually get to eat any of it.”

 

 

 

The next day, when Steve returned from physical therapy beyond tried and cranky, sore and aching all over, it was to a lovely surprise.

His ceiling was covered in plastic stars, the ones that glow in the dark. When Steve could force himself to move again, he shuffled over to the bed and found a note lying on the covers.

_I know these aren’t quite the same,_ it said in a beautiful scrawl,  _but I hope they go some way to making your stay here more enjoyable._

_P.S. You’re being released at the end of the week – that’s a promise this time. What say we pick up where we left off with dinner?_

_(I’ll even let you eat your share)_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Is this short and underdeveloped? Yes. Do I care? ~~Also yes.~~


End file.
